The first time, she had killed the holders of the Elements of Harmony in order to sever the Elements. She had failed. The one she saved for last had turned out to be stronger than anticipated, and that had been her ultimate undoing.
The second time, she changed tactics. Having learned that a proper severing required a different course of action, she had set out to gain them, this time, without killing their owners. Only because it wasn't required. She had failed again, when she didn't realise she wasn't the only one to get a second chance.
The third time, she was sure she would succeed. She would be alone this time. And even though she didn't have to, she'd kill the holders just to spite them. And she almost did succeed. But of course, circumstances had not allowed her to finish her task again, this time because a certain rainbow maned pegasus somehow got wise and stopped her.
The fourth time, she had forgone vengeance. But to her surprise, she was once again not alone, and so failed again.
"This doesn't make any sense!" shouted Twilight. Magic just smiled. "How could they have gone back, I took their elements! I mean I really took them! How could the magic affect them when they aren't holding their elements anymore?!"
"To be honest, I wasn't quite sure it'd happen myself. I suspected, but that's not the same as knowing."
"And of course you couldn't share this suspicion with me," said Twilight, rolling her eyes.
"Nope. You know I don't like what you're doing. But for somepony as clever as you, I'm surprised you didn't suspect anything yourself. Our magic clearly works without temporal limits, outside of here anyway. Certainly it's not too big a stretch to assume the others could save their hosts after their deaths?"
"It is too big a stretch! I don't think it makes any sense." She sighed. "But I guess it doesn't really matter. I'll try again. I'll forget about vengeance, that just makes them mad and that causes too many problems. Not to mention pain."
"Whatever you like," said Magic.
And the fifth time, Twilight thought she was getting somewhere. What could go wrong? She wouldn't kill them, they'd survive and she'd get the job done. Until Rarity died accidently, her body being unable to withstand the sudden loss of her element. Somehow the one death got the others suspicious, and she was caught and killed.
"This next one's a lost cause," said Twilight. "Rarity will be here, I'm sure of it." Magic nodded.
"There's something I'm curious about."
"I can't say I'll answer any question you have."
"This will be the third time a Rarity has gone back. She won't remember all the other Rarity's. But does her element remember?"
Magic smiled. "I'll ask next time I see her."
Twilight assumed victory was impossible, and so the sixth time she just vented out her frustrations by killing random ponies. She only successfully took Rarity's element, only because she wanted Magic to answer her question. Rarity stopped her again. The same thing happened as before, and Twilight found herself once again in Magic's presence.
"So?" Twilight asked.
"She knew," said Magic. "Might have something to do with that non-temporal thing. I don't know, this is getting too complicated even for me. I'll think about it more, maybe I'll figure it out." She smiled again, that smile that Twilight couldn't stand the sight of. "You're bringing me a lot of interesting puzzles, Twilight. I hope you solve yours eventually."
The seventh time, something odd happened. Celestia demanded Twilight use the heterodox method of severing elements. It meant Twilight would have to kill ponies, angering them, and endangering the plan. But still, the princess was the princess, and Twilight tried again, avoiding all the pitfalls of the previous rotations.
But it wasn't enough. New pitfalls grew where there used to be none. Spike found out again. Pinkie Pie had believed him, and together they stopped her. She hadn't even gotten four of them.
"Why did Celestia act differently?" said Twilight. "She'd never refused my suggestion before."
"I noticed," said Magic. "Not exactly the way you noticed, but I noticed. It's very strange. Another interesting puzzle. I think a few more circles will solve the problem."
"Circles?" asked Twilight.
"What else would you call them? You're doing the same things over and over, the same things keep happening. The slight differences don't matter. It keeps happening, you go back, you end up back here, and on and on it goes."
"There haven't been that many go arounds," said Twilight, annoyed.
"Give it time," said Magic. "Something tells me this will continue."
The next time was a throw away. Twilight didn't do anything this time. But they came for her, and she found herself back in that purple misty fog, with Magic.
"Shut up," said Twilight as soon as she caught sight of Magic. Magic only smiled that hated smile.
It kept happening. No matter what Twilight did, she could no longer convince the princess to try the new severing method, which meant Twilight kept making enemies of the ponies, which meant her returns to the past kept being punctuated with impossible reiterations where success could not happen.
The only thing that changed were the details. Sometimes it was Fluttershy, like the first. Other times, Pinkie Pie stopped her. Still others, Applejack and Rainbow Dash would show up together, or individually. Rarity had her fair share of "successes" as well.
That was, until Twilight started to pay more attention to the details of the worlds around her. Magic had eluded to it before. Things were the same, but things were changing. It was a puzzle.
"I think I figured it out," said Magic. Twilight had lost count how many times she'd shown up here, ready for another try.
"Figured what out?"
"Those small changes. The changes are much more obvious, compared to where we started."
"What is it then?" said Twilight. She was tired of talking to this thing. Not just for the moment, but in general. Talking to Magic meant she had failed again. She was starting to think her task was impossible.
"I think our magic is a bit flawed," said Magic. "We're not quite sending you back to the past. We're sending you to another universe entirely. One that's very similar, but not quite the same as, the one before. And these changes are piling up."
"That's nice," said Twilight, eager to get back to the real world.
"It really changes the whole view of this situation. But it doesn't look like you're too interested, so I'll just let you get back to your life."
Twilight failed again. It didn't matter how anymore. No matter what she did, something would happen that would lead to her downfall.
She began just going through the motions. Princess Celestia would ask her to sever elements. She'd say yes. She'd get as far as she could, and then back to see Magic she'd go. And it'd all start over again. She didn't even change tactics when it was an iteration where she wasn't alone. It just didn't matter, it'd happen again.
And again.
And again.
"I don't see why you can't just refuse," said Magic.
"You don't refuse the Princess. She'll kill me."
"She probably wouldn't snap your horn. You wouldn't end up back here."
"I don't want to die."
Twilight never tried to outright ignore the princess. But maybe there was another way.
"You say elements choose their holders?"
"Yes."
"Could they all choose me?" Twilight used to think that was an impossible goal, to get all the elements to choose her. But it looked like she had a lot of time now. And her current course wasn't leading anywhere.
"Theoretically," said Magic. "As long as you exemplify the element better than any other pony. But really, do you think you could manage to get the other elements to choose you? I don't know if you know this, but you're kind of a psychopath."
Twilight didn't even get angry at the insult.
"Could you imagine?" continued Magic. "You being so kind, that you put that poor pony Fluttershy to shame? Or so loyal that Loyalty chooses you instead of Rainbow Dash?" She laughed. Twilight hardly ever heard Magic laugh.
"It's a plan."
And so Twilight tried. She focused on a single element each round. The first time, it was Honesty. That seemed to be easy. Until it came time to lie to a pony, in order to sever an element the old fashioned way. Rarity thought she was joking. But Twilight continued to be honest, that yes, it was her that stole everything from Rarity, and she was going to kill Rarity and take her element. And she did. And she didn't lie when the others asked about it. And she found herself back in front of Magic.
Kindness was difficult to pull off. But she had to admit that she rarely gave any thought to her "friend's" well being when she took their elements. She said it was all business, not personal, but that wasn't really true. She liked it. So she tried to not like it so much, to be more merciful to her victims, to make things as easy for them as possible. Twilight didn't think she was going to get that element any time soon.
The third time it was Laughter. She tried to keep a positive outlook. She didn't think it was working. She certainly didn't feel like laughing when she failed again. Thinking about it, she wasn't any more virtuous, it just made her actions even more awful.
Twilight didn't really know how she could be Generous. She tried to be generous to her friends when they weren't her current targets, but that didn't really make up for what she ultimately had to do.
Loyalty.... She couldn't even try to take the other elements and remain loyal to her friends. But she could try to take them and be loyal to Celestia...of course, she'd been loyal to Celestia all these countless iterations! By that reasoning, she'd been the most loyal pony ever! And it had gotten her nothing. So instead, she tried being loyal to her friends. It was the first time she ever did it. It was a completely new experience.
When Celestia asked her to sever elements, she smiled and said yes. And then immediately went to her friends and told them what was going on. They were shocked and didn't believe her at first. But Twilight had proof, and they eventually accepted the truth. And together, they tried to stop Celestia. It was stupid, and they were doomed to failure.
A stroke of luck, Celestia snapped Twilight's horn off before killing her. And so back to Magic she went. Twilight was the first to die. She didn't know if her friends had succeeded.
"It's not so bad, not being a crazy pony bent on killing your friends, is it?" asked Magic. Twilight just shrugged. She didn't know what to think anymore.
At the beginning of the next iteration, Twilight decided it'd be easier to coax the Elements of Harmony towards her if she wasn't trying to kill their holders. And so again, she agreed to sever the elements to Celestia's face, but then turned around and told her friends. They failed again, and again Twilight's horn snapped.
"This is stretching probability," said Twilight. "There's no strong motivation for the princess to snap my horn. Yet she keeps doing it."
"Maybe someone's pushing things in that direction?" asked Magic, with a wry smile. Twilight didn't think Magic could do that. But then again, she didn't want to die, so she wasn't going to press the matter.
Again and again, she gathered her friends and went up against Celestia. And again and again, she failed.
She had run out of ideas. She was going to do this forever.
The worlds she was going back to were monumentally different from the one she started from. Ponies were popping in and out of existence. She couldn't remember the last time she saw Peanut Rush in Ponyville. Heck, the Everfree Fields didn't seem to exist anymore.
A thought finally occurred to Twilight.
"You know how every new world is slightly different from the one before it?"
Magic nodded.
"Do you think you could try and put me in a world with a specific difference?"
Magic put a hoof to her chin in thought. "I could try. I've learned a lot about this process. You wouldn't believe how many times I've had to send you back."
"Don't tell me," said Twilight. She figured the number would just depress her. There was a pause.
"Do you think you could try and send me to a world where Princess Celestia doesn't ask me to sever elements?"
"Finally having a change of heart?" Magic positively glowed in happiness as she clopped her hooves together. "That's wonderful news." She said it as if she already knew said news.
"I had a change of heart a long time ago."
It was Twilight's only hope now. That one day she'd show up, and never be sent on that stupid self-destructive path. She didn't want to live forever, going on the same fruitless quest over and over. Neither did she want to die. She just wanted a normal life, free from struggle. She hoped she'd get it.
She started to chronicle the changes of the world in her mind. Relationships changed. Buildings in Ponyville popped in and out of existence. Finally, a glimmer of progress
Princess Celestia seemed generously surprised when Twilight suggested another coup by Princess Luna. It gave Twilight hope that Magic really was directing her towards a world where Celestia herself was different.
"What are you going to do if you end up in such a world?" asked Magic. "Do you really think you can just go and live a normal life? You've lived for thousands of years. I'm almost surprised you're still sane."
"I told you a long time ago I didn't want a number," said Twilight. "But I have a solution to that problem."
"Oh? I'd be interested in hearing it. You know I like puzzles. And solutions to puzzles."
"You'll see when I get there. Think of it as motivation to put me in that world."
Magic smiled. Twilight found she didn't hate that smile as much as she used to.
Again and again she went, around and around, watching the changes of the world around her. She was shocked when the changes started affecting her own personal history. But they weren't what she was hoping for, so she simply acknowledged them and moved on.
She was lonely. The only person who really knew her now was Magic, and from her perspective, she only got to see the Element sporadically.
One iteration, about a month after telling the other ponies Celestia's request, she made a decision. She'd tell them her story. The whole story.
They were incredulous. But she relentlessly pushed the truth upon them. And what they did surprised her. They forgave her. Now, more than ever she wanted to just live a normal life with them, to be able to really be their friend.
It would be a long, long time before then. But eventually, it happened. The date when Celestia sent her on her journey to sever elements never changed. Not once in all the constant repeats of her life. But this time, it did. It passed, and nothing happened.
Twilight waited a week. She didn't want to get her hopes up, but she didn't want to wait too long if it turned out this was the one. The world she was waiting for.
She requested an audience with the Princess. She tiptoed around the issue. Celestia gave no hint that she knew what Twilight was talking about. Finally Twilight directly asked if Celestia was going to send her on some fool's errand to collect the other elements. Celestia looked genuinely shocked, almost offended, that Twilight would suggest such a thing. Relief washed over Twilight's face, and for the first time in a very long time she cried. This time was different though. These were tears of joy.
After asking the Princess to never bring up that audience ever again, Twilight teleported back home. This was where she'd live a normal life. Spike was asleep in his cot. She'd be a real friend to him. She'd be a real friend to all of them. She'd be a good pony. She wouldn't live forever. But she had already lived close to that, so it was no big loss. Now, she would enjoy a new experience.
Concentrating, Twilight worked hard to erase her own memories, starting from the beginning. She'd start this life with a clean slate. Just enough to know her own history, enough to continue on in this life. But nothing of all the struggles she'd gone through before, of all the pain and torment she had caused, both to the other ponies and to herself.
When she was almost done, she had forgotten why she was doing it. But she trusted herself, and assuming she had a good reason, she continued. The last thing to go was the knowledge of the memory altering spell itself.
Twilight looked around. She didn't know what she was doing up at this hour. She must have lost track of time studying, although there wasn't a book in front of her. Maybe she had put it up already? She mentally shrugged. She should really get to bed. Applejack wanted to hang out the next day, so she should probably get some rest. You never knew what kind of physically exhausting things you'd get up to hanging out with Applejack.
